Tuesday, October 28, 2014

stepping out... into teaching! (gulp)

Socktober might be almost over, but I'm not ready to move on just yet. I'd stepped away from sock-knitting for a while (get it? stepped..? nevermind) and it feels soooo good to be back.

Sock yarn! Oh man, sock yarn. For $25 you can buy yourself the goods for a spectacular, satisfying knitting project with amazing color, luxurious fibers and a guaranteed appreciative recipient (especially if you're the lucky recipient). Not to mention the portability, the relative speed, the fun of the Magic Loop.... okay, I know, I don't need to preach the Joy of Socks to y'all.

But I am going to be preaching the Joy of Socks to an unwitting group of new sock knitters in November, because I'll be teaching a sock-knitting class!!! Eep!

That's right, I'm going to be teaching my first knitting class. We're going to be knitting The Perfect Sock by Jo Torr, which is a perfect introduction to toe-up sock knitting. It's super duper exciting, and also completely terrifying. What if the students don't like me? What if I don't like them (though that seems unlikely)? What if they figure out that I ACTUALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING??? What if they hate sock knitting and spent their hard-earned money and time on a class that would have been better spent on cleaning the bathroom?!? I have all these fears and many more.

But also, I have the excitement! And also the Joy of Socks, which I really look forward to sharing. And I have the trust of Great Yarns to use wisely and not squander, so I better live up to it.

So here's what I want to know from you: Have you ever taken a knitting class? What class did you take? What did you love about it? What did the teacher do that made it a wonderful experience (or if it wasn't that, what would have made it wonderful)? What do you wish that the instructor had done differently?